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You cannot be SE-rious!

Sorry, folks, but in my eyes you can’t call yourselves the "best fans in baseball" if you boo Jason Isringhausen that mercilessly after two bad games.

It’s one thing to boo a guy who isn’t putting forth the effort, or who is making bad decisions, or whose head isn’t in the game. But a guy who’s giving all he’s got, and isn’t getting results, it’s bad form to boo him.

Isringhausen is struggling. He’s not right. There’s little doubt about that. But this is two bad games. He had a rough one in Philly but didn’t give up a run and got the save. Isringhausen ranks second in franchise history in saves and has been the closer here for three playoff teams in four years. There’s no denying his effort, no denying his desire. It’s not as though he’s dogging it. He’s just off right now. It happens to everybody.

If you want to boo the manager for the decision to bring Isringhausen in, well, I don’t even think that would really be fair, but even that would be more defensible. To boo Isringhausen himself as he comes in the game, and then loudly and roughly as he leaves after a tough game, I can’t see it.

26 Comments

I don’t think the 40,000 people there were in chorus with the booing. I only heard it on the ready, and it seemed like it was just a handful.

Izzy can be frustrating at times, but every closer will frustrate you once in a while.

Anyway, what I’m worrying about is 2nd base. Miles hot streak seems to be well over, and last I heard Junior Spivey was hitting fairly well in Memphis. The Cards aren’t paying him $1.3 to play in AAA all year, any word on when he’ll be up?

Very true. I wrote about how I dont think Izzy is the top-shelf closer many think he is, but that doesn’t mean it’s ok to boo him. I don’t think it’s ever really ok to boo a player, unless they just did something that game, like Chris Duffy lying about his trap last week. I don’t think it’s fair to boo a player coming into the game regardless.

People have been booing baseball players for ages, and they’ll continue to do so as long as baseball exists. It’s natural. I don’t think it’s fair to say that “the best fans in baseball” can’t boo their players. That’s just silly. Being a fan is about being supportive, but that doesn’t mean you can’t let a player know that they’re stinking up the place. Rest assured, if Izzy would be four-for-four in save opportunities without allowing a baserunner, he would have received a thunderous applause today. As well he should. But that’s not the case. He stinks right now, and has cost us a couple wins already this year. It’s natural — and I think, healthy — to let him know that the people partially paying his salary are frustrated.

If you went to work tomorrow, missed your deadline, and then turned in an off-topic column three hours late, do you not think your boss would come down on you? More to the point, do you not think your readers would say, “Man, that column is horrible. Get your head outta your rear and write a better column. You’re definitely capable of it. We’ve seen it before.” It’s called concern, and booing is one way — the most obvious way for fans at a game — to voice that concern.

Kudos to you Matthew Leach for calling out my Cardinal fan boobirding brethren. I was at the game today and was disgusted to hear the chorusing of boos. As far as I’m concerned, Jason has been underappreciated by the vast majority of Cards fans for the past year or so. Many of them never notice when other closers blow saves, nor do they recognize the fact that there are maybe 4 other closers in the game better than Izzy. #44 may not be in the “elite” amongst closers, but he’s certainly in the top few and still very, very good. This is the guy that once struck out the side in 9 pitches. It’s funny how fickle many of them are.

During the Astros/Giants games, the Giants fans were booing the Giants for all kinds of stupid stuff.. A bloop single that hits the foul line, a bloop single that goes right over the short stops head who tries to catch it running full speed backwards over his head. If your going to boo, at least make it something worth booing at, not a hard luck play or a bad outing by someone who’s trying..

Cards fans should know Izzy’s in a slump and know what he can do.. it’s not like he’s a chump

I just got home from the Sox/Blue Jays game where, for the second time in two nights, there were idiots booing the starting pitching. It makes me ashamed to be a fan. Booing your own guys is unacceptable to me. ESPECIALLY nine games into the season.

Wow! Talk about a sweeping generalization. I guess I’m not a true Cards’ fan because I was yelling at the TV, and more specifically the people in the stands booing Izzy. All you “members of the media” are so quick to jump to judgments!

Rachel, there is a huge difference between yelling at your television and being in your home park and booing one of your own.

Heck, I’ve THROWN things at my tv…and when I get to the Park I’m all about supporting the TEAM.

I didn’t take this as Matthew generalizing all Cards fans. But when you’re sitting in the stands and you hear more boos than cheers for one on your team, well – those fans are there representing the fan base. I don’t know what it’s like in St Louis, but more and more in Boston I’m noticing the ‘fans’ at the game are a lot of ‘people who were lucky enough to get tickets and don’t really care what is going on’ – until they decide it’s time to boo someone.

Thanks for the calling out. I was watching it on tv and I found it completly embarrassing. Please tell Izzy that there are several cardinal fans who found that downright stupid what the “fans” did yesterday

I was trying to say (although I didn’t say it very well) that I was yelling at the people booing Izzy. I agree with Matthew that it was uncalled for…I just wanted to poke a little fun at his calling out ALL Cardinals’ fans.

I disagree on this one. Yes, it is only April, but Izzy did lose us the game against the Cubs. I think we have a right to boo a guy based on his performance. I agree with dhoepker, this is almost the only way for us to voice concern. Just because we are Cardinals fans doesn’t mean we can’t boo. Now I’m sure it would be different if we were coming off of a championship year and Izzy proved to be the hero. This is just an example of the what-have-you-done-for-us-lately.

I couldn’t belive my ears when I heard all the fans in the stadium booing Izzy…I was like…He is having a bad start give him a break, just look what he did last year…but remember not all the fans were at the game so we were not all booing him…but I was not pleased with the ones who were.

Yes, I’m concerned about Izzy. He looks like he’s uncomfortable out there on the mound, and his mechanics look a bit off, although I could be seeing things. He’s admitted his hip isn’t the same as it once was, and has had to alter his delivery as a result. However…it is only 9 games into the season. He has plenty of time to break out of this slump. And Cody is right; Izzy is not the sole reason the Cards lost that game.

You didn’t read all of my comment did you codyalley? He lost the game against the Cubs. Not the Brewers. Even though he should shoulder some of the blame for it. He did lose the game for us last Sunday. Yes, all the things you listed above did contribute to the lose yesterday, but Izzy gave up the home run. We should’ve played better, yes. If we can hold them to 3 runs and we make 3 errors, we should be able to win.

Izzy was quickly brought in. How many times have you heard TLR say, Izzy needs to start the beginning of an inning. Or heard Al say, It is hard for a closer to come in the middle of a inning with runners on.

I think it was partly managing that lost us the game Sunday night.

Juan E. left 4 men on base.

You see you can not blame one particular person, there are 9 innings and if you go back and evaluate each inning you will find that there were several reasons for us to lose that game sunday night

If Izzy is throwing like this in August-September, I’ll be worried. Besides, hasn’t Izzy always been like this? Come in with no one on, give up a hit, walk a batter and then get the save. We should be used to it by now.

As for the booing. Would I boo Izzy? No. Do I mind if others boo Izzy? Not really. Maybe a little surprised but people are just expressing how they feel.

Izzy HAS been playing like this for awhile. I can’t count the number of times last season that he’d come into a game and load the bases. The fact that he didn’t blow more saves last season was pure dumb luck on his part. Now the chickens are coming home to roost and the cracks in his game are widening. Just watch as he pulls the rest of the team into the crevasse with him.

I completely agree. We haven’t even reached the midpoint of APRIL, and everyone is all atwitter about these little glitches? Give me a break, people. Better yet, give the team a break.

I have never been a fan of Izzy’s high-wire-act style of pitching. Along with the hardheaded Marquis (another personal non-favorite) he is certainly responsible for a few of my prematurely gray hairs. But he’s certainly still a great pitcher. There’s nothing wrong with him fundamentally. He, like several others, just needs to get into the swing of the season.

Relax, you yard hens. All that is called for is another cold, frosty Bud Light and a chill pill.

I’m with the group that thinks it’s too early. Izzy has been through small glitches like this before, where he dropped a game or two or gave up a home run to lose a game. It happens. It would be entirely different if Izzy wasn’t the classy guy that he is, or was a brand new closer from another club with a smart mouth. I wouldn’t have anyone else in that bullpen closing my games but Izzy. He’s struggling. He’ll come out of it. I’m just glad it’s being worked out now, and not in a close pennant race at the end of the season.

Frankly, I couldn’t care less about whether or not fans booed Izzy. Personally, I wouldn’t do it, but hey, to each their own. Give the guy a break already. Izzy is good, dadgum good, but he’s not Superman, any more than Albert, Jimmy, or any of the rest of them are. They ALL make mistakes, including Tony. And I too am glad he’s going through this slump now and not at the end of the season.

I gotta get my two cents in on this one.First of all,I do put the majority of the blame on LaRussa for bringing Izzy in in the 8th ining with a runner on and no outs. LaRussa should know better than to do that.He’s a jerk.I read 3 Nights in August, and I can see that Tony makes decisions on a whim. Based on some stupid, irrelevent piece of info he has dug up.And as all of us fans know, because we can see, Izzy does indeed NEED to come in at the start of an inning.As many have said already, Izzy is known for coming in and loading the bases before getting the save. SO DON’T PUT HIM IN WITH RUNNERS ON TLR! WAKE UP!!! And another thing, if Encarnacion continues to hit 2nd and Taguchi 6th (which is exactly opposite what it should be),then we will not win 85 games this year. You need an RBI guy in the 6th spot not the 2nd spot. That’s why Pujols is 3rd. He gets those RBIs. Put Taguchi 2nd, so he can’t bunt and run, move runners up, or hit and run. Also, let’s all hope to see Mr.Spivey in St.Louis soon. Although I must say Aaron Miles should stay too…at least for now.

Oh and the booing of Izzy is absolutely unacceptable for Cardinals fans. We are not Philly fans or New Yorkers or a bunch of dumb *** red necks. So let’s show our class and lend support to Izzy.He’ll come through.I don’t mind booing if it’s waranted, like I heard twoard Encarnacion last night after another failed attempt to drive in some runs.But then he made up for it with that catch in right.Now he just needs to be moved to the 6th spot in the lineup. I guarenttee he’d deliver there.

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